Chauncey will serve city well

As a former resident of four major American cities, a "transitional neighborhood" has meant a deteriorating neighborhood with solid and interesting housing stock (in addition to a good location) that starts being gentrified. Or it has meant a good, solid traditional neighborhood, usually middle class, that begins going down hill.

The Chauncey site is a torn-down old gas station/bus terminal, an old sporting goods store and a parking ramp. I really am not interested in inquiring into what Iowa City's transition plan might have been - it sounds rather 19th century.

More preferable, I suppose, would be using up more valuable farmland for subdivisions with sprayed astroturf-type lawns, ticky-tacky housing, townhouses and condos, designed with style of the decade domestic design, retro Art and Crafts and old farmhouse styles - or worse. Oh, that would be much better, of course, than higher density, well-constructed and competently-designed high rises.

The boomers are retiring in hoards and many do not want houses, but rather the kind of buildings that Marc Moen is developing - however, some less expensive options would be desirable.

I have been in favor of Gary Sanders' Walmart crusades in the past, but a corporate behemoth and a single visionary developer are two very different things.